Nash, Richard, Esq.

a very extraordinary personage,
was born at Swansea, in Glamorganshire, Oct. 18, 1674.
His father was a gentleman, whose principal income arose
from a partnership in a glass-house: his mother was niece
to colonel Poyer, who was killed by Oliver Cromwell, for
defending Pembroke-castle against the rebels. He was
educated at Carmarthen-school, and thence sent to Jesus
college, Oxford, in order to prepare him for the study of
the law. His father had strained his little income to give
his son such an education; and from the boy’s natural vivacity, he hoped a recompence from his future preferment.
In college, however, he soon shewed, that, though much
might be expected from his genius, nothing could be
hoped from his industry. The first method Nash took to
distinguish himself at college was not by application to
study, but by assiduity in intrigue. Our hero was quickly
caught, and went through all the mazes and adventures of
a college intrigue, before he was seventeen he offered
marriage, the offer was accepted but, the affair coming
to the knowledge of his tutors, his happiness, or perhaps
misery, was prevented, and he was sent home from college,
with necessary advice to him, and proper instructions to
his father. He now purchased a pair of colours, commenced a professed admirer of the sex, and dressed to the
very edge of his finances; but soon becoming disgusted
with the life of a soldier, quitted the army, entered his
name as a student in the Temple-books, and here went to
the very summit of second-rate luxury. He spent some
| years about town, till at last, his genteel appearance, his
constant civility, and still more his assiduity, gained him
the acquaintance of several persons qualified to lead the
fashion both by birth and fortune. He brought a person
genteelly dressed to every assembly; he always made one
of those who are called good company; and assurance gave
him an air of elegance and ease.

When king William was upon the throne Nash was a
member of the Middle Temple. It had been long customary for the inns of court to entertain our monarchs,
upon their accession to the crown, or any remarkable occasion, with a revel and pageant. In the early periods of
our history, poets were the conductors of these entertainments; plays were exhibited, and complimentary verses
were then written but, by degrees, the pageant alone
was continued^ sir John Davis being the last poet that
wrote verses upon such an occasion, in the reign of JamesI. This ceremony, which has been at length totally discontinued, was last exhibited in honour of king William;
and Nash was chosen to conduct the whole with proper
decorum. He was then but a very young man; but at an
early age he was thought proper to guide the amusements
of his country, and be the arbiter elegantiarum of his time.
In conducting this entertainment he had an opportunity of
exhibiting all his abilities; and king William was so well
satisfied with his performance, that he made him an offer
of knighthood. This, however, he thought proper torefuse, which, in a person of his disposition, seems strange.
“Please your majesty,” replied he, “if you intend to
make me a knight, I wish it may be one of your poor
knights of Windsor; and then I shall have a fortune, at
least able to support my title.” Yet we do not find that
the king took the hint of increasing his fortune; perhaps
he could not; he had, at that time, numbers to oblige,
and he never cared to give money without important
services.

But though Nash acquired no riches by his late office,
he gained many friends; or, what is more easily obtained,
many acquaintances, who often answer the end as well,
and, besides his assurance, he had in reality some merit and
some virtues. He was, if not a brilliant, at least an
agreeable companion. He never forgot good manners,
even in the highest warmth of familiarity, and, as we
hinted before, never went in a dirty shirt, to disgrace
| the table of his patron or his friend. “These qualifications,” says his biographer, “might make the furniture of
his head; but, for his heart, that seemed an assemblage
of the virtues which display an honest benevolent mind;
with the vices which spring from too much goocl nature.”
He had pity for every creature’s distress, but wanted pru*­dence in the application of his benefits. He had generosity for the wretched in the highest degree, at a time when
his creditors complained of his justice*. An instance of
his humanity is told us in the “Spectator,” though his
name is not mentioned. When he was to give in his accounts to the masters of the Temple, among other articles,
he charged, "For making one man happy, Jo/. Being
questioned about the meaning of so strange an item, he
frankly declared, that, happening to over-hear a poor man
declare to his wife and a large family of children, that lOl.
would make him happy, he could not avoid trying the
experiment. He added, that, if they did not -chuse to
acquiesce in his charge, he was ready to refund the money.
The masters, struck with such an uncommon instance of
good nature, publicly thanked him for his benevolence,
and desired that the sum might be doubled, as a proof of
their satisfaction.

Nash was now fairly for life entered into a new course
of gaiety and dissipation, and steady in nothing but in the
pursuit of variety. He was thirty years old, without fortune, or useful talents to acquire one. He had hitherto
only led a life of expedients; he thanked choice alone for
his support; and, having been long precariously

*

A gentleman told him, “he had
just come from seeing the most pitiful
sight his eyes ever beheld, a poor man
and his wife surrounded with seven
helpless infants, almost all perishing
for want of food, raiment, and lodging;
their apartment was as dreary as the
street itself, from the weather breaking
in upon them at all quarters; that
upon inquiry he found the parents
were honest and sober, and wished to
be industrious if they had employment; that he had calculated the expence of making the whole family
comfortable and happy.” “How much
money,” exclaims Nash, “would relieve them and make them happy?”
“About ten guineas,” replied the
friend,“would be sufficient for the
purpose.” Nash instantly went to his
bureau, and gave him the cash, at the
same time pressing him to make all
possible haste, for fear of the sudden
dissolution of the miserable family.
“I need not go far,” says the friend,
smiling, and putting the money into
his pocket; “you know you have owed
me this money a long while, that I
have dunned you for it for years to no
manner of purpose; excuse me, therefore, that I have thus imposed on your
feelings, not being able to move your
justice, for there are no such objects
as I have described, to my knowledge:
the story is a fiction from beginning to
end; you are a dupe, not of justice,
but of your own humanity.”

|
supported, he became, at length, totally a stranger to prudence or precaution. Not to disguise any part of his
character, he was now, hy profession, a gamester; and
went on from day to day, feeling the vicissitudes of rapture and anguish in proportion to the fluctuations of fortune. About 1703 the city of Bath became, in some measure, frequented by people of distinction. The company
was numerous enough to form a country-dance upon the
bowling-green; they were amused with a fiddle and hautboy, and diverted with the romantic walks round the city.
They usually sauntered in fine weather in the grove,
between two rows of sycamore trees. Several learned
physicians, Dr. Jordan and others, had even then praised
the salubrity of the wells; and the amusements were put
under the direction of a master of the ceremonies. Captain Webster was the predecessor of Mr. Nash. This gentleman, in 1704, carried the balls to the town-hall, each
man paying half-a-guinea each ball. One of the greatest
physicians of his age conceived a design of ruining the
city, by writing against the efficacy of the waters; and
accordingly published a pamphlet, by which, he said, “he
would cast a toad into the spring.”

In this situation things were when Nash first came into
the city; and, hearing the threat of this physician, he
humourously assured the people, that if they would give
him leave, he would charm away the poison of the doctor’s
toad, as they usually charmed the venom of the tarantula,
by music. He therefore was immediately empowered to
set up a band of music against the doctor’s reptile; the
company very sensibly increased, Nash triumphed, and
the sovereignty of the city was decreed to him by every
rank of people. None could possibly conceive a person
more fit to fill this employment than Nash: he had some
wit, but it was of that sort which is rather happy than permanent. He was charitable himself, and generally shamed
his betters into a similitude of sentiment, if they were not
naturally so before. His first care, when made master of
the ceremonies, or king of Bath, as it is called, was to
promote a music subscription, of one guinea each, for a
band, which was to consist of six performers, who were to
receive a guinea a week each for their trouble. He allowed
also two guineas a week for lighting and sweeping the
rooms, for which he accounted to the subscribers by receipt. By his direction, one Thomas Harrison erected a
| handsome assembly-house for these purposes. A better
band of music was also procured, and the former subscription of one guinea was raised to two. Harrison had three
guineas a week for the room and candles, and the music
two guineas a man. The money Nash received and accounted for with the utmost exactness and punctuality.
The balls, by his direction, were to begin at six, and to
end at eleven. Nor would he suffer them to continue a
moment longer, lest invalids might commit irregularities,
to counteract the benefit of the waters. The city of Bath,
by such assiduity, soon became the theatre of summer
amusements for all people of fashion; and the manner of
spending the day there must amuse any but such as disease or spleen had made uneasy to themselves. In this
manner every amusement soon improved under Nash’s
administration. The magistrates of the city found that it
was necessary and useful, and took every opportunity of
paying the same respect to his fictitious royalty, that is
generally extorted by real power. His equipage was
sumptuous, and he used to travel to Tunbridge in a postchariot and six greys, with out-riders, footmen, French
horns, and every other appendage of expensive parade.
He always wore a white hat; and, to apologize for this
singularity, said he did it purely to secure it from being
stolen; his dress was tawdry, and not perfectly genteel;
he might be considered as a beau of several generations;
and, in his appearance, he, in some measure, mixed the
fashions of a former age with those of his own. He perfectly understood elegant expence, and generally passed
his time in the very best company, if persons of the first
distinction deserve that title.

But perhaps the reader may demand, what finances were
to support all this finery, or where the treasures that gave
him such frequent opportunities of displaying his benevolence, or his vanity? To answer this, we must now enter
upon another part of his character, his talents as a gamester; for, by gaming alone, at the period of which we
speak, he kept up so very genteel an appearance. Wherever'
people of fashion came, needy adventurers were generally
found in waiting. With such Bath swarmed, and, among
this class, Nash was certainly to be numbered in the beginning; only with this difference, that he wanted the
corrupt heart, too commonly attending a life of expedients;
for he was generous, humane, and honourable, even though
| by profession a gamester. But, whatever skill Nash might
have acquired by long practice in play, he was never
formed by nature for a successful gamester. He was constitutionally passionate and generous. While others made
considerable fortunes at the gaming-table, he was ever in
the power of chance; nor did even the intimacy with
which he was received by the great, place him in a state of
independence. The considerable inconveniences that were
found to result from a permission of gaming, at length
attracted the attention of the legislature; and, in the
twelfth year of his late majesty, the most prevalent games
at that time were declared fraudulent and unlawful. The
Eo was at first set up at Tunbridge, and was reckoned
extremely profitable to the bank, as it gained two and a
half per cent, on all that was lost or won. As all gaming
was suppressed but this, Nash was now utterly destitute of
any resource from superior skill and long experience in
the art. The money to be gained in private gaming is at
best but trifling, and the opportunity precarious. The
minds of the generality of mankind shrink with their circumstances and Nash, upon the immediate prospect of
poverty, was now mean enough to enter into a base confederacy to evade the law, and to share the plunder. Nash
had hitherto enjoyed a fluctuating fortune; and, had he
taken the advantage of the present opportunity, he might
have been for the future not only above want, but even in
circumstances of opulence. In the mean time, as the Eo
table thus succeeded at Tunbridge, he was resolved to
introduce it at Bath; and previously asked the opinion of
several lawyers, who declared it no way illegal. The legislature thought proper to suppress these seminaries of
vice. It was enacted, that, after the 24th of June 1745,
none should be permitted to keep a house, room, or place
for playing, upon pain of such forfeitures as were declared
in former acts instituted for that purpose.

By this wise and just act, all Nash’s future hopes of
succeeding by the tables were blown up. From that time,
we find him involved in continual disputes, every day calumniated with some new slander, and continually endeavouring to obviate its effects. Nature had by no means
formed him for a beau garq on: his person was clumsy, too
large, and awkward, and his features harsh, strong, and
peculiarly irregular; yet even with those disadvantages he
made love, became an universal admirer of the sex, and
| was universally admired. He was possessed, at least, of
some requisites of a lover. He had assiduity, flattery, fine
clothes, and as much wit as the ladies he addressed. Wit,
flattery, and fine clothes, he used to say, were enough to
debauch a nunnery. He did not long continue an universal gallant but,in the earlier years of his reign, entirely gave up his endeavours to deceive the sex, in order
to become the honest protector of their innocence, the
guardian of their reputation, and a friend to their virtue.
This was a character he bore for many years, and supported it with integrity, assiduity, and success; and he
not only took care, during his administration, to protect
the ladies from the insults of our sex, but to guard them
from the slanders of each other. He, in the first place,
prevented any animosities that might arise from place and
precedence, by being previously acquainted with the rank
and quality of almost every family in the British dominions.
He endeavoured to render scandal odious, by marking it
as the result of envy and folly united. Whatever might
have been his other excellences, there was one in which
few exceeded him, his extensive humanity. None felt
pity more strongly, and none made greater efforts to relieve
distress. “If we were,” says his biographer, “to name
any reigning and fashionable virtue in the present age, it
should be charity. We know not whether it may not be
spreading the influence of Nash too widely, to say, that
he was one of the principal causes of introducing this
noble v emulation among the rich; but certain it is, no
private man ever relieved the distresses of so many as he.”
Before gaming was suppressed, and in the meridian of
his life and fortune, his benefactions were generally found
to equal his other expences. The money he got without
pain, he gave away without reluctance; and, when unable
to relieve a wretch who sued for assistance, he has been
often seen to shed tears. A gentleman of broken fortune,
one day standing behind his chair, as he was playing a
game of piquet for 200l. and observing with what indifference he won the money, could not avoid whispering these
words to another who stood by, “Heavens! how happy
would all that money make me!” Nash, overhearing him,
clapped the money into his hand, and cried, “Go, and be
happy.” In the severe winter of 1739, his charity was
great, useful, and extensive. He frequently, at that season of calamity, entered the houses of the poor, whom he
| thought too proud to beg, and generously relieved them.
But of all the instances of Nash’s bounty, none does him
more real honour, than the pains he took in establishing
an hospital at Bath; in which benefaction, however, Dr.
Oliver had a great share. This was one of those wellguided charities, dictated by reason, and supported by
prudence, chiefly by the means of Dr. Oliver and Mr.
Nash; but not without the assistance of Mr. Allen, who
gave them the stones for building, and other benefactions.
As Nash grew old, he grew insolent, and seemed not
aware of the pain his attempts to be a wit gave others. He
grew peevish and fretful; and they, who only saw the
remnant of a man, severely returned that laughter upon
him, which he had once lavished upon others. Poor Nash
was no longer the gay, thoughtless, idly industrious creature he once was; he now forgot how to supply new modes
of entertainment, and became too rigid to wind with ease
through the vicissitudes of fashion. The evening of his
life began to grow cloudy. His fortune was gone, and
nothing but poverty lay in prospect. He now began to
want that charity, which he had never refused to any; and
to find, that a life of dissipation and gaiety is ever terminated by misery and regret. He was now past the power
of giving or receiving pleasure, for he was poor, old, and
peevish; yet still he was incapable of turning from his former manner of life to pursue happiness. An old man thus
striving after pleasure is indeed an object of pity; but a
man at once old and poor, running on in this pursuit,
might excite astonishment.

A variety of causes concurred to embitter his departing
life. His health began to fail. He had received from
nature a robust and happy constitution, that was scarcely
even to be impaired by intemperance. For some time before his decease, nature gave warning of his approaching
dissolution. Theworn machine had run itself down to an
utter impossibility of repair he saw that he must die, and
shuddered at the thought. Fortitude was not among the
number of his virtues. Anxious, timid, his thoughts still
hanging on a receding world, he desired to enjoy a little
longer that life, the miseries of which he had experienced
so long. The poor unsuccessful gamester husbanded the
wasting moments with an increased desire to continue the
game; and, to the last, eagerly wished for one yet more
happy throw. He died at his house in St. John’s court, Bath,
| Feb. 3, 1761, aged 87. His death was sincerely regretted
by the city, to which he had been so long and so great a
benefactor. After the corpse had lain four days, it was
conveyed to the abbey-church in that city, with a solemnity peculiar to his character. The few things he was
possessed of were left to his relations. A small library of
well- chosen books, some trinkets and pictures, were his
only inheritance. Among the latter were, a gold box,
given by the late countess of Burlington, with lady Euston’s
picture in the lid; an agate etui, with a diamond on the
top, by the princess dowager of Wales; and some things
of no great value. The rings, watches, and pictures, which
he formerly received from others, would have come to a
considerable amount; but these his necessities had obliged
him to dispose of: some family-pictures, however, remained, which were sold by advertisement, for five guineas
each, after his decease.

In domestic life, among his servants and dependants,
where no gloss was required to colour his sentiments and
disposition, nor any ma^k necessary to conceal his foibles,
he was ever fond of promoting the interests of his servants
and dependants, and making them happy. In his own
house, no man was perhaps more regular, cheerful, and
beneficent. His table was always free to those who sought
his friendship, or wanted a dinner. As his thoughts were
entirely employed in the affairs of his government, he was
seldom at home but at the time of eating or of rest. His
table was well served, but his entertainment consisted
principally of plain dishes. He generally arose early in
the morning, being seldom in bed after five; and, to
avoid disturbing the family, and depriving his servants of
their rest, he had the fire laid after he was in bed, and, in
the morning, lighted it himself, and sat down to read some
of his few, but well-chosen books. His generosity and
charity in private life, though not so conspicuous, was as
great as that in public, and indeed far more considerable
than his little income would admit of. Such is nearly the
account given of this singular character in the preceding
editions of this Dictionary, the omission of which might
perhaps be felt by some of our readers, while others may
justly doubt if the life of such a man has fair claims on our
attention. It contains, however, some portion of amusement, and some of moral tendency. Our account is a
very brief abridgment of the Life of Nash, published by
| Goldsmith, who, it has been observed, tortured his genius
to give substance to inanity, and strained to describe the
gaudy hue of a butterfly, the glittering tinsel of a beau,
the sentiments of a man devoid of all reflection, and the
principles of an idler, whose walk of life never transgressed
the eternal circle of gallantry, gambling, and the insipid
round of fashionable dissipation. This account, however, is
perhaps not more a satire on Nash, than on the age in
which he lived. 1

1

Life by Goldsmith.—Warner’s Hist. of Bath (p. 365), a city which unquestionably owes much to Nash’s judicious administration of its pleasures.

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